The famous Croatian TV chef Ana Ugarković is among the most influential figures in modern Croatian cuisine. We met her with her first TV show in which we were delighted with colorful combinations of spices and ingredients while cooking some new dishes for her friends. In a way, with the help of TV screens we all sat at the lavish table of her apartment and enjoyed the charms of Italian, French, Spanish and new Croatian cuisine. With her modesty and approachability, but above all, creative cuisine which is adapted to cooking at home, she prompted many people to their first culinary steps. Her bistro is located in the center of Zagreb, Vlaška street, 5 minutes from the main square. Mali bar is not a pretentious place where the wine glasses are shiny, thin and designed, where there are large and extravagant chandeliers made of crystal, with distinctive composition of flower bouquets and choreographic harmonized waiters dancing around your table; no, this is a place where you always feel welcome, happy, with wonderful food in comfortable surrounding. Interior and service are in line with the philosophy of good bistronomy which we can see in the European capitals.

Mali bar has specific and faithful foodie audience that regularly tries Ana’s specials, not because of its popularity, but because of the tremendous passion and positive energy that goes into every corner of this place. When we talk about fresh, seasonal and local ingredients, Ana is uncompromising. Insisting on the exceptional quality of ingredients raises the price and quality of food that makes a significant difference from the rest of Zagreb’s bistro. Ana visits the main market Dolac daily, where she buys fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and prawns coming from Vis and octopus from Istria.

Like many great culinary names today, Ana didn’t finish culinary school but she devoted her cooking exclusively out of passion. She finished high school in Albuquerque (New Mexico), and then studied design in Milan. She lived for a while in Lausanne and then continued to improve her knowledge in London. What many don’t know is that her first culinary steps were in a London’s Aperitivo restaurant and then at The Fat Duck with the famous chef Heston Blumenthal, the restaurant which in 2005 was voted the best in the world, according to the World’s Best Restaurant, and who since 2004 is a carrier of three Michelin stars. After The Fat Duck she went to the popular River Café and she also created cakes for a Japanese bakery. She returned to Zagreb to cook in a restaurant Kerempuh and to film her first season of cooking show ‘’Kod Ane’’. She than released cookbooks Danas kuham 1 and 2, and a pastry book ‘’Nešto slatko’’ with a great success as well.

The menu in her Mali bar is short and varied, all together 15 dishes. Several Meza combinations, red lentil and ginger soup, crispy Kadaif shrimps with sweet and spicy chilli sauce, delicious gorgonzola agnolotti and polenta with young walnuts and arugula, and my favorite, Jiaozi – Chinese baked ravioli filled with meat, prawns and Asian greens. During the conversation with Ana one regular guest approached us with his wife and enthusiastically praises her bruschetta with homemade sausage, mustard sauce and quail eggs. He talked about the meat of Black Slavonian pigs Ana used for sausages with so many superlatives that I decided to come back as soon as possible to try out it’s aroma and juiciness myself. A very interesting dessert of sweet corn cream with raspberries and blueberries surprised me with it’s texture and flavor, while lovers of chocolate desserts should not miss the chocolate nemesis cake. Ana’s partner Igor looks after wine list and service. The wine list consists of 30 or so mostly Croatian wines. If you plan to come to Zagreb soon, Mali bar is a place really worth visiting.

Text: Hrvoje Petrić
Photography: Bilandžić/Pavelić, Marko Mihaljević
Mali bar, Vlaška 63, Zagreb (Hrvatska) +385 1 5531 014 malibar.zagreb@gmail.com